(Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what they’re looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review is not necessarily written by the point of view of a Neil Young fan.)

Overall Album Score: 5/5 (weak)
Best song: “Like a Hurricane”
Worst song: “Will to Love”

Review Body:

I like this quite a bit more than Zuma, and that’s comforting since I thought I might have been Neil Young’d out when I wrote that review. The first half of the album is some of the most tasteful country-rock imaginable (sometimes even breaking out of the norm and being *beautiful*), and the second half is a mixed hodgepodge… but it contains one of Young’s most signature songs “Like a Hurricane,” and that’s good enough for me!

Young gets the album off perfectly on track with “The Old Country Waltz,” a likable song with stellar instrumentation. Listen to the violinist and slide guitarist especially… The violin sounds utterly human (as opposed to playing mindless hillbilly cliches) and the slide guitarist is fantastic. In my limited experience listening to country-rock, it seems that the quality of the slide guitarist is a make-it-or-break-it thing. Too many times, I’ve listened to the genre and thought the slide guitar work was positively vomit inducing. Much more rarely, as it is here, it’s gorgeous and an utter joy to listen to. The slide guitarist makes his most impressive showing, however, in “Hey Babe.” BEAUTIFUL! It also helps that it also contains one of Young’s finest melodies!

Nothing else so special on the first side, unfortunately, but everything is solid and likable. “Saddle Up the Palomino” is nicely instrumented but I don’t care much for that riff and melody. “Hold Back the Tears” strikes me as being too common, and “Star of Bethlehem” is a tad boring. … Of course these are all good songs anyway!

After that, things start getting inconsistent. Apparently it’s a bunch of leftovers from earlier recording sessions and albums never recorded. I can’t bring myself to hate “Will to Love,” but it is a positively underwhelming song consisting of Young strumming his acoustic guitar and rambling for seven minutes by the campfire (apparently). “Meh” to that one. The album closer “Homegrown” isn’t too great, either… it’s average. I wouldn’t have even liked it from someone other than Neil Young.

But then there’s “Like a Hurricane!” Talk about a mixed second half, this is (so far) my favorite Neil Young song! The melody is catchier than anything and that electric guitar solo (which takes up a significant chunk of its eight minutes) is phenomenal. If nothing else, you should listen to that one!!

Track Reviews:

The Old Country Waltz A-
Uh oh… country-rock. A waltz, naturally. I actually like it though. It seems to keep all the best things about country and throw away all the bad stuff. So, you can expect a very tasteful array of instrumentals including a slide guitarist who knows what the hell he’s doing (that instrument tends to be either fantastic or vomitous). I really like the violin, too, who is playing his old cowpoke melody and actually sounding real. Young is taking some care in his vocal performance (good idea since this isn’t one of his proto-grunge outings). The melody is simple and likable… Cool.

Saddle Up the Palomino B+
The electric guitars are heavier on this one even though this is still good old country-rock. The instrumental mix is interesting and tasteful giving this the chance to feel far from generic country-rock. This riff isn’t the catchiest in the world and neither is the vocal melody, but it’s an enjoyable song nonetheless. Quite bold sounding.

Hey Babe A
Er… wow!!! Shame that Young can’t always come up with stuff this inspired. See what a melody can do for you?? Sure, it seems like he’s repeating the same hook over and over again, but I’m not going to cause a hissy fit about that. This is an utterly gorgeous song with more of those fantastic instrumentals… especially that slide guitar. Somebody give the slide guitarist a cookie. (I wish he would play on every country rock album, because I swear most slide guitarists suck.)

Hold Back the Tears B
Pretty good, though not nearly as much as the preceding song! The melody is likable enough but not so mesmerizing… The instrumentals are quite good though probably not representative of the best of the album. That common chord progression and typical bass line doesn’t help much.

Bite the Bullet B
The guitars are as crunchy as hell! … Is this even country rock??? Well, he retains the Linda Ronstadt / Nicolette Larson back-up vocals and the violinist! Actually, this is a welcome change of pace although this isn’t incredibly compelling. The gruff attitude is utterly nailed, but it all might have been catchier!

Star of Bethlehem B-
Meh… He follows up the gruffest song of the album with the most laid-back song… That messes with the flow, dagnabit!! But looking at the song independently, it’s … er, not so fantastic anyway. Give it extra points for having a charming atmosphere and the proper instrumentation. The melody is fine as well. So what’s the problem??? … Er, it’s kinda boring. Lyrics might be difficult to take for religious people, but you’ll get over it.

Will to Love C
“Sometimes I ramble on and on / And I repeat myself / Till all my friends are gone.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. I guess that’s his apology for this song… seven minutes worth of rambling boringly with an acoustic guitar (peppered a bit by other instruments along the way). What the hell are all those hissing sounds????? … A camp fire? … That’s a dumb idea. Everybody likes to *watch* a campfire… nobody just wants to hear the crackle. Apart from the sound effects, this surprisingly reminds me strongly of David Bowie’s early folk songs except not nearly as good. (You know, “Cygnet Committee.”) Comparing anything to Bowie’s early folk songs is hardly a compliment, anyway. That said, I like “Cygnet Committee” anyway. Sue me!!!

Like a Hurricane A+
Beautiful! You wonder how Young could stand to let his albums be so inconsistent. Longer than the last one, but he rambles based on a good melody, crunchy electric guitar and a solid backing beat. Some sort of distorted keyboard string sound subtly in the background gives it an interesting, disturbed texture. Not only is the melody among Young’s finest, but that electric guitar solo (pardon the cliché) will BLOW YOU AWAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, it’s that good. I’m not usually impressed with guitar noodling, but here’s one of those happy exceptions… This guy sounds utterly demented… There’s more personality in that guitar than most actual people have. Cool. This eight minutes makes you forget the last seven minutes (still, it undeniably exists since I got it on paper). Probably my favorite Neil Young song (…hard to make such blanketed statements since I’m listening to / reviewing these albums in order).

Homegrown C+
A bit of an underwhelming closer. Two minutes worth of an uninteresting melody… But at least the guitars are as crunchy as ever… Probably would have hated this if not for the guitars. Doing that a cappella stuff wasn’t the best idea.

Concluding Remarks:

Actually, I like this Neil Young album. The first half is well above average country rock. The last half is spotty, but it contains “Like a Hurricane,” and that’s good enough for me!


Read more Neil Young reviews by Starcollector!

Neil Young (1969) | Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969) | After the Gold Rush (1970) | Harvest (1972) | On the Beach (1974) | Tonight's the Night (1975) | Zuma (1975) | American Stars 'N Bars (1977) | Comes a Time (1978) | Rust Never Sleeps (1979) | Live Rust (1979) | Hawks & Doves (1980) | Re-ac-tor (1981) | Trans (1982) | Everybody's Rockin' (1983) | Old Ways (1985) | Landing On Water (1986) | Life (1987) | This Note's For You (1988) | Freedom (1989) | Ragged Glory (1990) | Weld (1991) | Arc (1991) | Harvest Moon (1992) | Unplugged (1993) | Sleeps With Angels (1994) | Mirror Ball (1995) | Dead Man (1996) | Broken Arrow (1996) | Year of the Horse (1997) | Silver & Gold (2000) | Rock Road Vol. 1 (2000) | Are You Passionate? (2002) | Greendale (2003) | Prairie Wind (2005) | Living With War (2006) | Chrome Dreams II (2007) | Fork in the Road (2009) | Le Noise (2010)

Recommended: Yes